This invention relates to 5-carboxypyrimidines, and in particular to a series of bis(4-hydroxy-5-carboxy-2-pyrimidinyl)phenoxy alkanes and 2-substituted-4-hydroxy-5-carboxypyrimidines and their use as inhibitors of allergic reactions, and in particular allergic asthma.
Allergic reactions, the symptoms resulting from an antigen-antibody interacton, manifest themselves in a wide variety of ways and diffusely different organs and tissues. Among one of the most disabling and debilitating of these allergic reactions is asthma, characterized by episodes of breathlessness and wheezing.
Efforts to discover medicinal agents to alleviate the symptoms of this abnormal physiologic state have been extensive. As early as 1910, Matthews, Brit. Med. J., 1, 441 (1910) reported the bronchodilator effects of epinephrine. Since then, Chen and Schmidt, J. Pharmacol. Exper. Therap., 24,339 (1924), reported the use of the alkaloid ephedrine as an oral efficacious bronchodilator with the same spectrum of activity as epinephrine. In 1940, Konzett, Arch. Exp. Path. Pharmak., 197, 27 (1940), outlined the effects of the potent bronchodilator isoproterenol and in 1968 Dugan, et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 164, 290 (1968) reported the pharmacology of soterenol, a bronchodilator of greater potency, duration and oral effectiveness.
Although the aforementioned bronchodilators represent outstanding contributions toward the treatment of asthma, they all share the same undesired side effect of cardiac stimulation.
Recently, Cox and co-workers, Adv. in Drug Res., 5, 115 (1970), described the pharmacology of disodium cromoglycate, an agent useful in the treatment of bronchial asthma. Although this compound is unrelated to the sympathomimetic amine bronchodilators previously mentioned, and mediates its bronchodilator effects by a unique mechanism of action, it suffers from the lack of oral efficacy.
Netherlands patent application 7008625 describes the preparation of a wide variety of pyrimidines and pyrazines including 2-aryl-4-hydroxy-5-carboxypyrimidines, claiming utility as antipyretic, analgesic, diuretic, hypoglycemic, antifibrinolytic and antiinflammatory agents.
Mitter, et al., Quart. J. Indian Chem. Soc., 2, 61 (1925), has reported the synthesis of 2-phenyl-, 2-tolyl- and 2-anisyl-4-hydroxy-5-carboxypyrimidines, while the 2-phenyl congener is reported by McCarthy, et al., J. Med. Chem., 7, 68 (1964). No utility was disclosed for these analogs.